Previewing the new GroupCamp User Interface

As you may know GroupCamp is getting ready to launch new offerings for the end of this year and we needed a new User Interface (UI) which would easily accomodate those new applications while keeping or improving your existing user experience.

We are happy to announce that the user interface is ready to be launched and this blog post describes the main changes in the upcoming UI.

1. Introducing the new sidebar on the left

The new User Interface has a new sidebar on the left. The project browing menu therefore moves from the top menu bar to the side bar (click on My Projects). You can also, if you are an Administrator or a Manager, create a new project right from the side bar.
You’ll also see a mention of ‘Open Projects’. I’ll cover this with further details below.
Please note that you can hide the sidebar on the left by clicking on the toggle icon in the top menu bar.

2. New Packs in the left hand pane (Network, Tracking)

The sidebar on the left is where GroupCamp’s new application packs will appear. So you can already see what will be the premise of our planned Enterprise Social Network offering (under Network) and our Tracking offering which is where we hope to bring tracking features such as Expenses and Project costs (on top of the existing time tracking features).

3. Moving all settings to one single location

One major improvement in the UI which comes from recurring feedback from our users is the fact that our management and settings features were spread into a number of locations: admin functions, application settings and personal user preferences such as Calendar sync were not all in the same place. This is now changed: click on settings in the top menu bar and you’ll see all that comes close to be a setting or an Administrator or Owner function.

4. Enriched User Profiles

Paving the way for what will be our Enteprise Social Network offering we are introducing a first level of rich user profiles with integrated visibility and privacy management. What was previously in your My Details/My info section have been separated into:

1) your new Profile app which allows you to present yourself to the rest of your company or

2) if it is an information used for your account (username, language, timezone), it is now in the Identity section.

5. Project list management and Open Projects

We have redesigned the Project List view for Administrators (currently the Project tab of the Admin section). You will find we are introducing the new concept of ‘Open projects’. For smaller organizations not all internal projects are strategic enough to be limited to specific users of a company. An open project is a project that is visible to any user of the account and anyone can join or leave that project (this avoids the usual hassle of Administrators forgetting to add new users of the company to company-wide projects). This will also help our new users het

6. New Roles and privileges screen

Another request from many users has been the ability to manage the privileges of Managers (in plans Best & Max) more easily and to be able to allow Managers to create projects. The new Roles and privileges screen now allows you, the Administrator, to decide which exact privileges should be granted to Managers.

7. Enhanced look and feel customization options

In the new user interface you can customize just about everything from the background color of the sidebar zone to the hover color of links in the app. Our enhanced customization features now support both light and dark themes.

The new User Interface is also the result of lively discussions with our worldwide community of users. We hope to live up to the expectations. This User interface and its ergonomics are just a start but we now have the right framework to bring more productivity apps to you.